Evicted: How The 1985 Ellis Act Can Be Used To Kick You Out Of Your Rent Controlled Apartment

CES on KCRW Regarding the Ellis Act: "The law has been totally corrupted," says LA housing advocate Larry Gross of the Coalition for Economic Survival "It's being used by big developers who are purchasing for the sole purpose of evicting the tenants and converting those buildings to high price housing."

Coalition for Economic Survival Executive Director Larry Gross appeared on KABC 790 am radio to discuss Los Angeles' new Seismic Retrofit law and it's impact on tenants and rent controlled units on Tuesday, April 19, 2016

Coalition for Economic Survival Director of Organizing Carlos Aguilar and Council District 1 District Director Conrado Terrazas Interviewed on the Spanish-Speaking Channel 62 News at LA City Council Member Gilbert Cedillo's Nov 18th Renter's Rights Forum held at Highland Park's Franklin High School.

Coalition for Economic Survival Executive Director Larry Gross was interviewed on KNX 1070 NewsRadio in response to the Los Angeles City Council vote on October 9, 2015 approving the earthquake retrofit mandate.

Coalition for Economic Survival Executive Director Larry Gross provides KTTV FOX 11 News with examples of the rent controlled buildings that will be impacted by the new City of LA Earthquake Retrofit Mandate law.

LOS ANGELES -- Thousands of older wood and concrete apartment buildings vulnerable to collapse in a major earthquake would get costly upgrades under sweeping retrofitting rules passed Friday by the Los Angeles City Council.

Thousands of buildings across Los Angeles must be beefed up to better resist collapsing during a major earthquake, under a long-awaited ordinance passed Friday by the City Council and quickly signed into law by the mayor.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Supporters of a bill to give tax credits to landlords for earthquake retrofitting are hoping for a vote in the California State Senate before the legislative session ends on Friday.

The buzz of voices fill a community center in Hollywood, as dozens of people slide into folding chairs. They include artists, teachers, designers, and they're from all over the city: Los Feliz, Echo Park, Mid-City and Boyle Heights.

Renters who are being evicted from a Beverly Grove apartment held a protest on Wednesday in front of the home of their landlord — a man who also happens to be chairman of California's Housing and Finance Agency.

The Coalition for Economic Survival and other community supporters rallied around tenants living at 1625 Crenshaw Bl today who are facing evictions due to the fact that their building is not covered by rent control. CES Executive Director, Larry Gross, was interviewed on KCAL 9.

On NBC 4 Los Angeles News, the Coalition for Economic Survival and other community supporters rallied around tenants living at 1625 Crenshaw Bl today who are facing evictions due to the fact that their building is not covered by rent control.

Landlord Association In LA Wants Tenants To Foot The Bill For Water Use

The Apartment Association of Greater Los Angeles, a local group that represents landlords, is lobbying Mayor Eric Garcetti to back a proposal that calls for renters to pay for their water use, in exchange for slightly-reduced rents. The proposal would only impact rent-controlled buildings in Los Angeles.

Geoffrey Palmer, the wealthy developer of the seven-story apartment complex that burned to the ground in a massive fire early Monday morning, has been a controversial and even reviled figure in Los Angeles. The popular real estate blog Curbed LA recently called him "the man destroying downtown L.A."

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti this week highlighted policies he said would improve housing affordability in the nation's least affordable housing market - though he was mum how to implement them or what his timeline would be.

"There is a shortage of decent, safe and sanitary housing in the City of Los Angeles resulting in a critically low vacancy factor," begins Los Angeles' Rent Stabilization Ordinance, which was enacted in 1978. "This situation has had a detrimental effect on substantial numbers of renters in the City, especially creating hardships on senior citizens, persons on fixed incomes and low and moderate income households."

The developer of a proposed large mixed-use building in West Hollywood that planned to restrict tenants living in affordable housing units from accessing the property's pool said Wednesday it will reconsider after encountering strong objections from the city's Community Development Department.

Coalition for Economic Survival Executive Director Larry Gross, together with American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees Local 3634 Administrative Assistant June Singleton-Reece, appeared on KNBC Channel 4 News on May 1, 2014, regarding a story on how the affordable housing crisis has pushed middle class, working families and the poor out of the City of Los Angeles.

The city of Los Angeles is considering a proposal from Councilman Bernard Parks that would pass the cost of retrofitting apartment buildings on to tenants. Currently, only 50% of major renovation costs may be passed along to tenants, with landlords and building owners paying the cost of retrofitting.

Coalition for Economic Survival Executive Director Larry Gross and CES Section 8 Tenant Leader Ann Williams appear on KNBC Channel 4 News report on October 9, 2013 regarding the impact that the Government Shutdown may have on the funding of Section 8 rent subsidies for low income tenants.

David Cruz, host of KTLK radio's the David Cruz Show, interviews Coalition for Economic Survival Executive Director Larry Gross and Park LaBrea Apartments Tenant Leaders Jason Green and Jon Neustadler regarding the elevators frequently malfunction or are often out of service, requiring them to climb numerous flights of stairs. The complex has 18 towers that are each 13 stories tall and have 153 units. Park LaBrea is the largest rent controlled complex in Los Angeles and biggest housing complex west of the Mississippi.

After sometimes dramatic warnings from Washington D.C. before the sequester took effect March 1, most Southland residents could be forgiven for greeting the first months of the automatic spending cuts with a shrug.

CES Executive Director Interview
Regarding a Report Stating that California is Second Most Expensive State to Rent in the Nation

David Cruz, host of KTLK radio's the David Cruz Show, interviews Coalition for Economic Survival Executive Director Larry Gross on the National Low Income Housing Coalition report stating that a minimum wage worker in California must toil about 130 hours a week in order to feasibly afford a two-bedroom rental.

CES Executive Director Interview
Regarding the Plight of LA Tenants, Displacement Threats Due To
Transit-Oriented Development,
and the Mayoral Election

David Cruz, host of KTLK radio's the David Cruz Show, tells Coalition for Economic Survival Executive Director Larry Gross, that he's David's 'go to guy' when he wants to know wants going on in the streets. Cruz tells his audience that CES does "phenomenal work."

CES On Annenberg Radio News Regarding Proposed Sales Tax Hike On March Ballot

Los Angeles faces a $220 million budget deficit. City Administrative Officer Miguel Santana, says the city's done all the cutting it can, and more revenue is needed to prevent cuts to crucial services.

Coalition for Economic Survival Executive Director Larry Gross was interviewed on the KTLK's David Cruz radio show, again, regarding the Los Angeles City Council giving its final approval to increases in parking ticket fines.

Coalition for Economic Survival Executive Director Larry Gross was interviewed on the KTLK's David Cruz radio show, again, regarding the increase to street sweeping parking ticket fines in the City of Los Angeles for the sixth time in the last seven years.

Coalition for Economic Survival Executive Director Larry Gross was featured on Truthdig Radio on KPFK 90.7 FM on May 10, 2012. Truthdig editor Peter Scheer hosted the program report on the City of Los Angeles’ plan to increase parking ticket fees for the sixth time in the last seven years.

Coalition for Economic Survival Executive Director Larry Gross was interviewed on the KTLK’s David Cruz radio show regarding the proposal to increase parking ticket fees in the City of Los Angeles for the sixth time in the last seven years.

Free Speech Radio News (FSRN) reports on CES’ campaign to oppose a landlord’s attempt to forces their tenants to pay their rent only online. FSRN is an independently produced half hour daily national and international radio news program focusing on peace and social justice issues in the US and around the world.

Officials of the City of Lancaster in the high desert area of Los Angeles County has been waging a war against low-income Section 8 rent subsidy tenants for some time. Lancaster officials have attempted to reduce the number of its Section 8 tenants by accusing them of being responsible for crime in the area, hiring housing authority inspectors to intimidate and harass them and attempting to pass laws to deny business licenses to landlords who accept Section 8 vouchers. These actions have created an atmosphere of fear for low income tenants and has even result in physical attacks to Section 8 renters.

Being a renter in Los Angeles can be difficult, but a group of local tenants are suing their landlord because they say the company is making it impossible to do the most basic thing a tenant does — pay rent. In September 2011 the Jones and Jones Property management company notified tenants at its 300-unit south LA Woodlake Manor Apartments that it would only accept online rent payments.* The Coalition for Economic Survival and Bet Tzedek Legal Services announced last week that a lawsuit against Jones and Jones was filed on behalf of the tenants, who want to retain the right to pay rent by more traditional means. Many of the plaintiffs are elderly, and some are self-identified as "computer-illiterate."

Rent rage breaks out prompting police to respond to a Los Angeles City Council meeting, after council members fail to take action on a proposed rent-hike moratorium. Read more and view the video here...

May 2010

CES Featured on WBAI Radio 99.5 FM in New York!

The Fight to Win a Rent Freeze in L.A.

Housing Notebook - May 10, 2010
Scott Sommer was joined by Larry Gross of the Coalition for Economic Survival to discuss the progress of the campaign for a rent freeze in Los Angeles.

CES Executive Director takes on a representative of the California Apartment Association debating why the Los Angeles City Council needs to pass a freeze on the 3% rent increase to tenants living in L.A.'s 630,000 rent control units slated for July 1, 2010.

Scott Sommer hosts Larry Gross of the Coalition for Economic Survival, who talks about recent eviction protections won for LA tenants facing owner & owner relative move-ins and for tenants living in rental properties that have been foreclosed. Read more here...

December 2008.

L.A. City Helping Tenants of Foreclosed Properties

CES Executive Director Larry Gross provides a response to Channel 11 Fox News immediately after the Los Angeles City votes to extend rent control eviction protections to all rental units in the City, providing CES and other tenant organzations a tremendous tenants' rights victory. View the video here...